Falling Upwards
by DeoVacuus
Summary: POST FANG. Max goes missing and Fang gets called back. He discovers a broken flock. Together they find Max, or what was once the indistructable Maximum Ride. Can Fang help Max heal and bring her back from the brink?
1. Chapter 1: Homeward Bound

Hey everyone. First multi-chapter fanfic. Let's see how this goes. I do not own Maximum Ride. I was disappointed by Patterson's FANG, but it was better than THE FINAL WARNING and so so much better than MAX. So here's the deal I have the muse ot write. I don't know for how long this muse will stay with me so I'm going to be chucking out chapters _fast_, that way I don't lose the desire to write this and it ends up yet another abandoned ficcy. So please pardon all typos and other oddities.

THIS STORY IS POST-"FANG" ==== SPOILER ALERT!

_Italicized words are the words spoken telepathically here._

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*Fang POV*

The sun was setting in the west painting the fields in twisted long shadows that danced over the ground. The blood red harvest moon rose up in the sun's dying light in the slightly cloudy sky. Another day had passed. Without Max. I cringed away from the thought.

I could hear the guys bickering over the 'campfire'. I sighed with barely concealed mirth, "You guys are SO useless when it comes to fires. I'll get it, don't worry. Can you set up the shelters?"

They nodded and scuttled off. We were a good band. I had rescued them from an older School-like building. They were as old as the building itself. From what I knew they were something like the prototypes of the prototypes of all the recombinant mutants. Maybe. I wasn't sure and they didn't care.

I watched the small tongues of flame leap up to greedily lick at the kindling I gently added in. As the fire grew and the smoke drifted lazily into the sky I couldn't help but wonder what they were all up to. Especially her. I thought that in two weeks it would be Total's and Akila's six year anniversary. I would only be able to remember another anniversary.

I suddenly was hit with a splitting headache. I gripped my skull with both hands and nearly crushed my own head flat to hold it all together. It was like an axe had been stuck into the back of my head. I checked, don't worry, no axe. The pain gradually subsided and I started to hear a faint voice that grew stronger. It was panicked, high pitch, and oh so teasingly familiar.

"_fang… fang.. __fang…fANG… FANG… FANG! OH GOD, FANG, CAN YOU HEAR ME? PLEASE PLEASE… FANG!"_

"_Angel?"_ I felt my stomach churn sickeningly as fear started to claw at my heart. At my response I thought I heard a choked sob. This was so bad. This was worse than bad. If Angel had made contact after six long years of zilch this was end-of-the-world bad. Maybe worse.

"_Fang? It's really bad. Like worse than end-of-the-world bad…"_

Had she pulled that thought from my head?

"_Fang we really need you back. NOW. We all need you. ASAP. I can give you our location, please don't refuse…"_

The word "please" was marred by her voice breaking. "_What's wrong?" _Please don't tell me. I don't want to know. I blocked the images of mangled bodies of my family, of oil spills, horrendous fires, of mad scientist experiments gone oh-so wrong, and worse…

"_Max is missing. She's been taken by someone. We're near the old Colorado house. Get here as fast as you can. We really need you now. Don't abandon us again."_

The hurt of her last comment was lost like a raindrop in a tumultuous river of agony knowing that Max, my Max, was in serious horrible trouble. My heart skipped more beats than would be advisable for any human. I couldn't seem to breathe. I dropped like a fool onto my knees. Directly into my newly built fire. It was just barely enough to wake me from the horrible fact that Max was gone. Barely. I wouldn't be any help like this. I carefully boxed up the painful emotions into the area of my brain that was reserved for all other Maxness. Which was like, 80% of my brain. "GUYS! We're headed for the 'States! Let's Go now! Speed is imperative. We're needed ASAP!"


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own MR.

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Fang POV:

I flew ahead of my pack through the Colorado hills looking for BKSO (bird-kid shaped objects). I tried yet again to squelch my rising emotions. The 80% of my mind that was devoted to Max was in an absolute uproar. The rest was determined to get her back. No matter what the cost. Far to the West I saw the first trace of what might have been a BKSO. I raced forward violently thrusting down with my winds to propel me faster. I shot like a black bullet from the last chamber in Russian Roulette, just as mindlessly angry and just as mindlessly scared. Oh and just as deadly. I was going to painfully mutilate and kill whoever kidnapped Max.

"IT'S FANG!" I heard the Gasman's voice yell.

As I skidded to an awkward landing a more awkward silence lowered over us. It was the air had suddenly been sucked out and we were standing in a vacuum that was pulling us apart. Nudge couldn't meet my eyes. I was hurt by the fact that our most open and loving flaockmate couldn't bear to look at me. Iggy had the nastiest scowl I'd ever seen on his face, worse than the ones he pulled out for Erasers. I understood how he felt completely. The Gasman looked like he was barely holding it all together. Max would have given him some of her mega-surplus of courage. I on the other hand had nothing to offer but my surplus of self loathing. And Angel's eyes were piercing me to the spot like a moth in an insect diorama. No wonder-boy Dylan. I did a double take. Were two flockmates missing? My mind prickled at the idea that tried to slither further, had they run off_ together_? I cringed away from the thought. Yet another box never to be opened in the Indiana Jones Warehouse-Vault of Fang's Mind.

Angel spoke first. She had really matured in six years. I was so proud my feathers floofed slightly. On the other wing I was so emotionally shredded because I had missed it. She had lost her vibe of crazy-power-hungry-mutant and had gained a stronger superpower than any other: diplomacy. "Fang." Her eyes were razor blades. Ouch. "We need your help to find Max and save her. Obviously. This is where she was last seen."

"What do mean 'last seen'? Like yesterday or two days ago? When was the last time you saw Max? Did she say she was going out for anything? Shopping, flying, saving the world?"

She paused, the group tensed. Iggy's fists balled up until I was sure his fingernails were cutting into his fists. I knew this because mine were too. "Nobody's seen or heard from Max in almost three weeks."

My eyes widened slightly. A Fang version of the fish-faced gasp of shock. "But… If you guys were… the flock… then…"

Angel sighed with barely masked anger, "The Flock hasn't been whole since you left. We splintered. Me and Gazzy were the last to go our own way."

I froze. Cold tendrils of shame and anger pulsed through me like ice in my veins. It felt like my feet had been nailed to the rocky earth wit steal spikes. Nobody had been with Max. They had left her all alone. I had left her all alone. The flock hadn't been whole since I had left. Guilt gripped me like an iron maiden's embrace. Slowly more anger began to filter in. Anger at myself for my many failings. Anger at them for leaving her too. Anger at the cold, uncaring, unflinching, mechanicality of the universe.

I realized I hadn't spoke for a minute. I remedied this. In my own socially inept way. "You left her?"

"Fang…" Iggy's voice was a warning. And it only opened the gates for me to get past my shock.

"YOU ABANDONED HER?! ALONE?" I focused my fury on my old sparing partner, the last to talk, Iggy. Just as I was about to tackle him and break his nose he stiffened and a large hand came down on my shoulder holding me back like a ramrod of steel. Took them long enough. But running was so much slower than flying, I couldn't blame them.

"Who are they?" Nudge asked, finally looking at me (if only to look behind me).

The hand on my shoulder squeezed harder. I nodded. It would be stupid and petty and pointless to break Iggy's nose. And this _was_ my fault to begin with anyways. The hand on my shoulder let go. I sighed and looked at Iggy's staring eyes. "We need to talk. I'll tell you everything. But arguing won't fit down a better time line or clues of who stole Max. And we need to get her back."

I whispered to myself "I need to get her back." The words wheezed out of me like the gust of air that is forced out when you get punched in the gut really hard. I hope no one heard how pathetically needy I sounded just then.

We all sat down in the house's living room. It was sparsely furnished and all that was in it was knocked over from some brawl. We sat amongst the wreckage of the present ready to stir up the past. Silence struck again heavy, thick, and choking as early morning fog on a moor.

I spoke first, "Who left first?"

Iggy's eyes flashed, his face was a knife. His teeth pulled back in what might have been a smile, however the ends of his mouth were cruelly twisted. "You did."

That stung. It was true though. My shoulders slumped under the weight of truth. But I had no time to nurse my own hurts. I was focused on Max. Max Max Max Max Max Max… I needed as much information as possible on what I had missed to help track Max down. There had to be a clue somewhere. People who were strong enough, smart enough, and evil enough to trap Maximum Ride just aren't that common. In fact out of that small pool of suspects most were long dead. Max just doesn't tolerate those plotting to kill her. One of those odd quirks I love about her. There was a divine art in the way Max's arm would pull back, her back muscles rippling, and punch the lights out of some poor sap. It's like watching television for bird kids. Ultimate fighting for real. Focus Fang, focus. I couldn't lose myself in my head over Max when the real one was endangered. However I had lived the last six years in my head with my Max since I could not have her in real life. Habits, ya know?

"Who left after I did?"

"I left next." Iggy replied.

"Why?" I asked calmly.

"YOU ask ME why I left? Why did you leave?!"

I paused, self-loathing swamped me and my voice was heated, "I thought I was doing the best thing for the flock. I thought I was helping Max save the world. I thought I was giving her the chance to have 'her other half'." I almost choked with bitterness at the last part. I hated Dylan with a special kind of hate that I reserved only for him. Like my hatred for hospitals times a billion.

Iggy scoffed. "Oh you left for our own good? How noble of you."

"Ig…" Nudge weakly warned. I sensed she agreed with him. Hell, I agreed with him. What I had done was stupid, and time was making it a worse decision by the minute. Max was missing. My heart felt like it was cut out and I was bleeding on the floor.

"I left because my hearing improved."

I didn't understand. "Why would…."

"Let me explain…"


	3. Chapter 3: Past Scars Have Stories

I do not own Maximum Ride.

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"I couldn't bear listening to her cry. Every. Single. Night. And then each morning she would plaster herself together for us when she was falling apart…. It drove me mad. I HAD to get away. I stayed for a while. Until she was… stable. I readily admit it was selfish. But I could not console her. She only wanted you. I left a few months after you did."

My cut out heart managed to plummet down farther. Then paused, my voice almost squeaked, "Stable?"

Nudges eyes flashed. Angel looked down. Iggy's face scrunched up, "You leaving really tore her up. That first week was Hell. She was still trying to be invincible Max. But that Max's hard exterior had been melted by love. Then burned by love. I guess. She finally allowed herself to feel. And she felt down to the very last feather. Fang, she had finally let herself feel for _you_, and _you _ripped the rug right out from underneath her. Afterwards she was just caught in a stupor, completely flattened by you leaving. Broken. Because you didn't just left the flock. You left _her_."

I sat silently. I hate myself.

"I left with Iggy. He's blind."

Iggy 'looked' at her, "I hardly noticed." Nudge elbowed him.

Gazzy spoke up, looking at me like I was a mirage or a last chance at salvation. I thought his eyes might swallow me whole. "It was just Angel, me, Dylan, and Max then. We went on like that for a few years. After the first year she learned to hide her feelings better. Dylan took your spot."

I bristled.

"As second in command…"

I commanded my body to relax.

"But after Total and Akila's four-year anniversary, things changed. Dylan and Max started fighting. Constantly. I think something was wrong with him. I think he knew it too. Maybe he was getting the effects from all that experimenting Dr. Haagen Daaz did on him… But he was so much bigger and stronger than any of us." He paused. Was it fear I caught in his eyes? "Even Max. I… I did nothing. I just hid and listened as their shouts shook the walls. It was like he had roid rage. At the drop of a pin they were at each other's throats. There was some reason they never shared with us…"

Angel looked up, "She refused him."

Gazzy shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Yeah… maybe… Then one day they fought. Like for real. And… and he knocked her out." My heart skipped a few beats. "Cold. I was in the living room and Angel had left when the fight began. I saw it all. He just… hit her. Right in the face. No holding back. And she went down right in the kitchen." He pointed near the refrigerator was. "He left then. We haven't seen or even heard a rumor of him since. I think he's dead."

I hoped he was dead. I had a reason for my hatred of him now. He had struck Max. My Max. My blood boiled like where the sea meets flowing lava.

Angle's eyes flashed, "I couldn't find his mind at all. I looked when I was calling everyone together when we realized Max was missing. I scoured the whole damn earth for him. I found Iggy, Nudge, and even you, Fang. But not him. The only people I can't find are usually dead…"

I didn't ask about Max. I didn't want to know. But a brick knotted in my gut.

"Max was really really over controlling after Dylan left. She wanted to know where we were at all times. She never wanted us out of her sight. She got panic attacks and was angry if we went anywhere, even the roof, without telling her. I guess that was brought on by everyone voting her out of the flock into exile and then when we were all back together people started abandoning her. She really tried not to worry us. Or come off as psycho, but we couldn't take it. Her fear of losing us was crushing us. I wanted to …. grow. Achieve a little independence. I decided that it would be vest to spread my wings and leave the nest like everyone else. I started my own flock with Gazzy. Every month or so though she would call us or we'd contact her. We stayed in touch with her. We let her know we were alive. You didn't Fang. What exactly did you do in your fleeing for 'our own good'? Did you save the world yet? How about Max?" Angel suddenly broke down. Her justification of leaving was based on my example. I had done this. Strong sobs wracked her body. I stood frozen, a moth in amber. "Are you gonna leave us or help us find Max?"

My throat constricted, "I will find Max. If it's the very last thing I do, I will. I'll save her." I wish I was as confident as I sounded. I still had no idea where to look. I couldn't comfort Angel. Six years had made us stilted acquaintances. My wings itched.

"How about you Fang?" I lifted my head to look at Nudge. "What did you do? And…" She glanced at the two men who flanked me on either side, and in whisper, "who are they again?"

I pointed to the one on my right (body language and location were really important to these guys), "This is Devon" I shrugged towards my left, "and this is Dog. They're my new flock."

"I prefer pack myself." Devon interjected. It was the first time he had spoken. The old paranoia raised its sleepy head as Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel tensed like for a U&A. Slowly they calmed down.

"I got them out of a lab in England. They just decided to stick with me ever since. They're loyal to a fault, they eat more than what we do, they're obnoxious, and" with a pointed glare at them, "REFUSE to eat with silver ware."

Dog chuckled, "I've got hands don't I? What could a fork do that fingers can't? Plus, no dishes to clean."

The flock looked mildly perplexed. I sighed. This was stupid. Of all the things that had ensnared their interest this in no way would be able to help me find Max. But, unless I earned back their shattered trust I wouldn't be able to start looking for her with them. "The 'everything-is-finger-food' is just a pet peeve of mine. Remember when we would have killed for a steak and a fork? Well, anyone who has a fork and refuses to utilize it is committing a crime against nature in my book."

"So, uh, did you guys fly here?" Gasman asked. The question was lilted off his tongue oddly. He didn't want to know how we got here, he wanted to know if Devon or Dog could fly.

Devon got it, "No wings. But I got a great pair of legs." He flashed a grin that would make a womanizer or a coyote proud.

"So, you're uh, human? You look all human… Like 100%," Gasman asked.

I reached out, unnoticed by the others to grab a hold of Dog. Iggy frowned slightly, probably trying to puzzle out why I let a couple of humans tag along for the wild and dangerous days of Fang saving the world. Dog growled. Devon bared his teeth. The answer to the riddle was solved. Almost.

Nudge went pale (or as pale as her complexion would allow her to be), and in a small voice that slightly squeaked she asked, "erasers?"

Devon's eyebrows knotted. I decided to let him explain it. It was his story after all. Dog quieted but he still growled softly. Iggy was probably the only one who could hear it on their side of the room.

"We're not Earasers." He shrugged. And the flock looked more suspicious. "We were born about four years ago. Our mother was kind and wonderful and warm. She always smelled nice. She had a pedigree a mile long. She also was a German shepherd dog." He let that sink in. It was almost absurd. The WhiteCoats had forced so many humans to bear animal DNA that we hardly thought of animal testing with human DNA. "Our Master was a scientist. Instead of being human and grafting animal genetics onto us we were pups with human genetics hodge-podged in. We gained sentience. We learned of sorrow. Of hate. Of humans and their evil." Dog was snarling now on my other side. "We are not humans. We are dogs. We refuse to be human. Humans are evil. The world was revealed to us in shocking horror. The garden of Eden had shattered. WE KNEW. It was painful watching your mother and then your littermates pass away before you. Knowing that we would keep living. Grafting animal DNA onto humans caused a small error, very insignificant if you figure into what a scientific leap grafting on to humans was in genetic engineering. The bleep was this: other past experiments had an expiration date, a shortened life span. They were allowed to die. We lived on, they died young."

Dog nodded.

The Flock seemed to shakily accept the story. Stranger Danger was still near the top of cannon law though.

Fang was so ridiculously tired of the talking. He wanted to go save Max. Except he had no idea where in the hell she was. It tore him up. She was not here. Gone. But there was nothing he could do at the moment. No clues. No notes. No witnesses. And they all needed sleep. He growled to himself while grinding his teeth.

"We need to re-coup. Everyone get some rest and we'll decide where to start in the morning."


	4. Chapter 4: Next Step

Hello everyone. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate reviews, they help me get the drive to write more. This chapter is pretty short but the next one will be BIG in both size, drama, and plot.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed thus far!

I do not own Maximum Ride, this story is for entertainment and I make no money off of it.

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Fang POV:

I woke earlier than the rest of the group. Sleep had been elusive. Of course I hadn't slept on anything so comfortable as the flock's sofa in a long long time. Go figure. That's just how luck rolls with me. Really though I couldn't sleep because I knew Max was in danger. It made my wings itch and my skin crawl. I had spent the morning going over the facts and all I could think of was to talk to the people we knew (and trusted) to see if anyone had heard anything about Max. Unfortunately this probably meant talking to Jeb first since he probably would be the only one of us to hear through the mad scientist circles if someone was trying to auction off one pissed off Maximum Ride. After that we could talk to the CSM's scientists, but really we had no leads. Everything had been fairly peaceful in the past six years. Well, peaceful by my standards. Which entailed mild world saving, school-like facility breaking into, and a nice cold can of whup ass everyone once in a while needed opening. Normal.

However that also meant we were seriously lacking evil dastardly villains to attack and spring Max out. In fact my list was pretty much empty. Brain case guy was gone with the storm. turned into a sniveling monster, whose body rejected itself and he died from an overactive immune disorder a few years back. Like I said before, villains tend not to have a long life expectancy around Max.

Maybe we should look for Dylan too. What if he wasn't dead, just kidnapped too? He could be the first victim, and the first lead. As much as I hated to admit it, we might have to save his butt too. If he wasn't dead.

I had to brush off my giddiness at the idea that Dylan might be dead. Was hopefully dead.

Less competition right? Ha. Ha. Kidding.

Not.

The only thing we had was the hope that maybe Dylan's and Max's disappearances were somehow connected, and by investigating Dylan we might find Max. If he hadn't died years ago. If we could find where he had been. Or was. Or wasn't. But no birdkid body had been found and plastered all over the news so at least we knew he did

"How do we know he isn't dead? I thought he was dead." Gazzy complained again as we flew towards *gag* Jeb's to hash and thrash out more information.

"Well no avian American corpses have sprung up on the news, right? We'd totally hear about that." Nudge (ofcourse) was more than willing to talk and rebuff Gazzy's cynicism. I still think he's too old to be so jaded.

"Fang, do actually think Jeb will know more about Max and Dylan?" Iggy shot me a "look".

"Maybe. We don't have any leads though. And maybe he can infiltrate some evil-circles and fid out more? He _was_ a whitecoat after all."

"So what? You _were_ a dependable flock mate after all."

"Ouch."

Nudge looked uneasily. I had to agree. Me and Iggy had been really close, obviously, because we are brothers. We would stay up and talk. Even about topics neither of us would share with anyone. Like how Iggy owned a porno mag he couldn't even look at. Or how I hated people so much I wished the world would end. That was before Max decided to save it. Then I was all gung-ho for world saving. I _am_ that whipped. We mostly shared guy stuff. Brother stuff. Things Max would yell at us and call us chauvinist pigs over. Hell, I would probably call us pigs over it too. Stuff like girls, and futures, and breasts, and cars, and breasts, and NASCAR, and freedom, and breasts, and girls.

But now? Things were chilly as the arctic ocean.


End file.
